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Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Blue Cheese and Pecan Nuts

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No Christmas dinner spread would be complete without everyone’s favourite vegetable, the humble Brussels sprouts.

Alternative Sunday Roast

I jest. Not everyone’s a fan of this mini-cabbage loaded with folate, vitamins C and K. Prepared by the clueless, sprouts will turn into soggy layers of leaves that squelch in your mouth which would stop even the most enthusiastic foodie in his tracks. Others complain about its bitter taste because of the high levels of glucosinolates located in the center of the sprout. Boiling them fast or simmering them slowly, the result will remain bitter. However, instead of keeping them whole, halve them and by boiling them in plenty of salted water, most of the bitterness would leach out.

Raw Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts can be baked, boiled, braised, sautéed, steamed and even deep fried. Also you can sous vide them, like I did in this incredible sous vide Brussels sprouts recipe. If you’re a cookbook aficionado, you would have noticed that it’s commonly paired with bacon, cheese, chestnuts and cream. If you want to go off the beaten track, the following ingredients would also work: almonds, mushrooms, mustard, nutmeg, sweet peppers, vinegar and walnuts.

Halved, whole and peeled brussels sprouts

This recipe was inspired by Carluccio’s take on brussels sprouts for Christmas.

Sprouts with chicken

For this meal I roasted a chicken which I roasted at a low temperature for hours while basting it with butter every now and then. Keeping the chicken company in the oven were slices of kabocha that came out super sweet and tender that complemented the savoury sprouts wonderfully.

If you noticed the quirky yet beautiful crockery and tea towel used in the photo, you can buy them at Rex London .

What is your favourite Christmas side dish and why?

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Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Blue Cheese and Pecan Nuts

★★★★★

4.7 from 7 reviews

  • Author: Michelle Minnaar
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6 1x
Print Recipe

Description

The perfect Christmas dinner should contain this brussels sprout side dish.

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1kg (2lbs) brussels sprouts, peeled
  • 30ml (2 tbsp) butter
  • 150g (5oz) bacon, thinly sliced
  • 150g (5 oz) blue cheese, crumbled
  • 50g (2oz) pecan nuts, roughly chopped

Instructions

  1. Peel the brussels and blanch in salted boiling water until tender.
  2. In a separate pan, melt the butter and fry the butter in it until cooked and golden.
  3. Add the sprouts to the bacon and toss around to coat all over.
  4. Place the vegetables in a large serving dish and scatter with blue cheese and nuts.

Notes

  • You can use any type of bacon in this dish. Pecans can be substituted for walnuts and any blue cheese will do. Instead of butter use chili oil.
  • The following types of blue cheese will work well in this recipe: stilton, roquefort, cambozola, cashel blue, danish blue cheese, dolcelatte and gorgonzola.
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Cuisine: Italian

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 229.7g
  • Calories: 354
  • Sugar: 3.9 g
  • Sodium: 547 mg
  • Fat: 27.3 g
  • Saturated Fat: 11.2 g
  • Carbohydrates: 18.2 g
  • Fiber: 7.8 g
  • Protein: 15.1 g
  • Cholesterol: 51 mg

P.S. This post was sponsored by Carluccio’s.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Tracy Nixon says

    I love the roasted parsnips – I just adore the taste and they are a treat as we don’t have them that often!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  3. Tracy Nixon says

    I love the roasted parsnips – I just adore the taste and they are a treat as we don’t have them that often!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  12. Kavey says

    My sister adores sprouts so we cannot have a Christmas dinner without them! I prefer savoy cabbage myself, but the addition of bacon and cheese does indeed make sprouts more palatable!

    Reply

  13. Kavey says

    My sister adores sprouts so we cannot have a Christmas dinner without them! I prefer savoy cabbage myself, but the addition of bacon and cheese does indeed make sprouts more palatable!

    Reply

  52. Angela Macdonald says

    I love pigs in blankets because of the salty/smoky taste and I also love sprouts sauteed with garlic, a tiny dash of olive oil and bacon, as they remind me of when I lived in the canary islands as I had them in a restaurant there and loved them.

    Reply

  53. Angela Macdonald says

    I love pigs in blankets because of the salty/smoky taste and I also love sprouts sauteed with garlic, a tiny dash of olive oil and bacon, as they remind me of when I lived in the canary islands as I had them in a restaurant there and loved them.

    Reply

  70. Lyndsey Jones says

    I love stuffing! I went to my boyfriends parents for Christmas for the first time a couple of years ago and they served up some very sad packet stuffing. This year I made sure I offered to ‘help out with the cooking’ and made two tasty homemade stuffings – a sausage and chestnut, and a lemon, apple and herb. Both delicious and both went down well!

    Reply

  71. Lyndsey Jones says

    I love stuffing! I went to my boyfriends parents for Christmas for the first time a couple of years ago and they served up some very sad packet stuffing. This year I made sure I offered to ‘help out with the cooking’ and made two tasty homemade stuffings – a sausage and chestnut, and a lemon, apple and herb. Both delicious and both went down well!

    Reply

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